Target for firearm practice



April 3, l95l P. s. LIEBERMAN 2,547,478

TARGET FOR FIREARM PRACTICE Filed July '7, 1948 Patented Apr. 3, 1951 UNITED STATES yOFFICE 7 Claims. l This invention relates to targets for use in marksmanship and particularly to an automatically reset target.

According to the present invention a target dey vice is provided which is simple and rugged in construction and which is so arranged that the target element proper is a plate-like element which alternately presents its opposite flat surfaces as target objectives. Such opposite surfaces are presented at different locations rela tive to the general support of the target to clearly indicate a hit, the plate-like element being arranged to automatically reverse and present its opposite surface upon being struck by a bullet or other projectile.

Means are also provided, in the target of the present invention, for varying the force required to produce reversal of the target element, so that the device may readily be adjusted for use with bullets or other projectiles of varying fire power. The adjusting means may be set to reverse in any selected impact range, whereby p-roper operation maybe provided under any desired conditions, the impact on the target varying not only with the size and 'type of projectile but also with the distance at which shooting is taking place.

An important feature of the self-setting characteristics of the device of the' present invention resides in its contribution to greater safety. Many shooting accidents occur as a result of persons walking into a iiring range to set up or reset targets or other shooting objectives. In using the deviceof the present invention no such attention is required after the target is initially placed in the desired position.

Various other objects and advantages oi the target of the present invention will occur to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the following specification and the accompanying drawing. It is to be understood., however, that various mechanical modications may be made in the device disclosed herein by way of example without departing from the spirit of the invention,

which is not limited excepting as dened in the appended claims.. l In the drawing:

Fig. l is a front elevational View of one form of the target device ci the present invention with a portion thereof broken away for added clarity of illustration; and

Fig. 2- is a top plan View thereof.

In the several gures of the drawing like characters cf reference denote like parts and the numeral Iii designates a plate or body element which comprises the main support of the device. A pair of legs H and l2 are rigidly secured to the side marginal edges of plate lil at their upper ends, asv by welding or the like, and extend down wardly. The legs H and I2 may be pointed at their lower ends to facilitate sticking them into the ground or they may be employed in another desired manner te support the plate element l in an exposed position. In place of the foregoing supporting assemblage, the plate It and legs Il and l2 may be fabricated from a singleV sheet 'metal blank, as by stamping or the like.

Plate element i@ has fixed to ,itsV rear face, as by welding or the like upper and lower rearwardly extending bearing plates lli and l5, the upper bearing plate l5 being of greater rearward extent than the lower for reasons which will presently appear.

The target itself comprises a plate IE which is shown in the present instance to be square but which might be circular or of any other desired configuration. Target i6 may be integral with a supporting arm portion Il or may be fixed thereto by welding, as shown, and the latter is in turn xed adjacent to its inner end to a vertical pivot pin I8.

Pivotv pin i8 has reduced upper and lower end portions which have bearing in the upper and lower bearing plates I4 and l5, respectively. The upper reduced portion of pivot pin I8 extends above bearing plate il and has fixed thereto, in any desired manner, a nat-sided ycam element 2S having a nose portion `2l.

At its rear portion upper bearing plate l has xed to its upper surface, as by welding or the like, a vertical plate element 23 which serves as a mounting plate for resilient target-positioning means. A cam follower plate 24 has an aperture at its rear portion and the forward end normally bears against one or the other of the flat sides of cani element 2D.

The plate element 23 is also apertured and a bolt 25 passes through plate element 23 and cam follower plate 24 and thence through a compression coil spring 26, being provided at its outer end with a suitable adjusting wing nut 211.

The rear edge of cam follower plate 211 bears against the rigid plate element 23 which provides a fulcrum for the cam follower plate. Its forward portion is thus urged horizontally toward and against cam element 2li and the resilient force which resists turning movement oi cam element 2t is obviously determined by the force of spring 25 as adjusted by wing nut 21.

When the target iii is in the left-hand position illustrated in Fig. l, nose portion 2| of cam element 2i) is directed rearwardly. When target it is struck by a bullet or other projectile, nose portion 2| of cam element 2i) rides against follower plate 2li and rocks the latter about its rear fulcrurn against the resistance of spring 25 until the cam passes over center, whereupon the spring acts against the cam to quickly complete a 180L7 arc of movement whereupon follower plate Zei bears resiliently but firmly against the opposite at side of cam element 20 with the nose portion 2l of the latter projecting forwardly.

The target IG is thus positioned at the righthand side of plate element Zil for further shooting and its change of position clearly marks the fact that a hit has been scored. The adjustment of spring 26 may be such that the impact of the projectile itself is sufficient to complete the 180 arc of movement, the spring serving merely a retaining function.

Proper adjustment of the force of spring 26 will assure against the target i6 moving 180 to the other side of plate element l5 and immediately rebounding to the iirst side from the force of a single hit In one form the body plate element I il and legs H and I2 may be painted a dark color with target E5 painted white or some other light color, but obviously the contrasting color arrangement may be varied to suit individual conditions or individual tastes. To facilitate assembly, upper bearing plate lil has a U-shaped notch 3S for receiving the upper reduced portion of pivot pin I8, the latter being held assembled `by the pressure of follower plate 2li.

What is claimed is:

1. In a target, a front stationary plate and means for supporting the same, a vertical pivot disposed centrally behind said plate, an arm supported for swinging movement by said pivot and having a ilat target plate at its outer end, said arm and target plate normally extending generally parallel to the front plate with the target plate exposed at one side oi the iront plate, said arm and target plate being adapted to swing rearwardly thence forwardly to an opposite position also generally parallel to the front plate with the target plate exposed at the opposite side of the front plate, over-center resilient means urging the target plate to either of its limit positions at opposite sides of the front plate, and manual means .for varying the stress of the resilient means.

2. In a target, a front stationary plate and. means for supporting the same, a vertical pivot pin disposed centrally behind said plate and pivoted thereto, an arm fixed to said pivot pin for swinging movement therewith and having a fiat target plate at its outer end, said arm and target posite sides of said cam to yieldably retain the its limit positions at one side or the other of said target plate in of its limit positions at op= posite sides ci the iront plate.

3. In a target, a front stationary plate and means for supporting the same, a vertical pivot pin disposed centrally behind said plate and pivoted thereto, an arm iixed to said pivot pin for swinging movement therewith and having a nat target plate at its outer end, said arm and target plate normally extending generally parallel to the front plate with the target plate exposed at one side of the front plate, said arm and target plate being adapted to swing rearwardly thence forwardly to an opposite position also generally parallel to the front plate with the target plate exposed at the opposite side of the front plate, an elongate cam on said pivot pin, resilient means adapted to bear alternately against opposite sides of said cam to yieldably retain the target plate in either of its limit positions at opposite sides of the front plate, and manual means for readily varying the tension of said resilient means.

4. In a target, a front stationary plate and means for supporting the same, a vertical pivot disposed centrally behind said plate, an arm supported for swinging movement by said pivot and having a flat target plate at its outer end, said arm and target plate normally extending generally parallel to the front plate with the target plate exposed at one side of the iront plate, said arm and target plate being adapted to swing rearwardly thence forwardly to an opposite posit-ion also generally parallel to the front plate with the target plate exposed at the opposite side of the front plate, and over-center resilient means urging the target plate to either of its limit positions at opposite sides of thefront plate.

5.y In a target, a iront stationary plate and means for supporting the same, a vertical pivot disposed centrally behind said plate, an arm supported for swinging movement by said pivot and having a flat target plate at its outer end, said arm and target plate normally extending generally parallel to the front plate with the target plate exposed at one side of the front plate, said arm and target plate being adapted to swing rearwardly thence forwardly to an opposite position also generally parallel to the front plate with the target plate exposed at the opposite side of the iront plate, and means for yieldably retaining the target plate in either of its limit positions at opposite sides of the front plate.

6. In a target, a support, a reversible flat target plate having its oppositefaces alternately disposable at opposite sides of said support, means at the rear of said support engageable with the target plate to mount the latter for swinging movement through substantially 180 to present its opposite face at the opposite side of said support, and over-center spring means for resiliently urging the target plate to either of its limit positions at one side or the other of said support.

'7. In a target, a support, a reversible flat target plate having its opposite faces alternately disposable at opposite sides of said support, means at the rear of said support cngageable with the target plate to mount the latter for swinging movement through substantially 180 to present its opposite face at the opposite side oi said support, over-center spring means for resiliently urging the target plate to either of support, and manual means for readily varying the tension of said spring means.

PHILIP S. LIEBERMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The iollowing references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,035,8753 Miner Aug. l2, 1912 1,341,551 Semple Jan. 19, 1932 1,845,699 Knipper Feb. 16, 1932 

